Shakhtar U19 held their first official match headed by Serhiy Popov. The Pitmen's starting line-up included young students of the Academy, as well as more experienced players, who already have experience in the youth championship. Stal U19 has strengthened their line-up with several footballers from the reserve team.

Ilia Putria scored the penalty with a powerful shot to the left corner - 1-0

First half

The opponents started off with great speed and each had conducted several attacks, but the first scoring chance came at the end of the first 15 minutes after a set play. Valerii Bondar took two shots at Stal's goal within a minute but the away team's goalkeeper deflected both. Subsequently Riabenko also deflected a far shot by Kashchuk. But in the 21st minute the Stal's keeper fouled when he brought down Ivan Semenikhin in the penalty area. Shakhtar's right-back Ilia Putria scored the penalty with a powerful shot to the left corner - 1-0. Serhiy Popov's squad dominated the ending of the first half. Dmytro Topalov tackled the ball from a defender, came one-on-one, and took a shot at the far corner, but the goalkeeper caught the ball. Later, Maksym Andruschenko shot a 25-meter out swinger but hit the post.

Kashchuk added a goal to his three assists by completing an attack with a precise shot from the centre of the penalty area - 5-0

Second half

After half-time, the away team became more aggressive and created several opportunities. Artem Pospelov confidently took the shot made by Malyshev from the penalty line and a flank attack ended with hitting the post of Shakhtar's goal. The Pitmen were on the constant look-out for opportunities to increase the lead and succeeded on the 62nd minute. Oleksii Kashchuk's free-kick cross was aimed precisely at Valerii Bondar who finely clipped the ball to the far post - 2-0. In the middle of the half Stal lost a player: Daniil Stakhmich received two yellow cards within seven minutes. And right after that, Oleksii Kashchuk moved through the right flank and made a low cross to the penalty area, where Dmytro Topalov scored on the second attempt. And three minutes later Shakhtar's captain scored once more, again after a flank cross from a partner - 4-0. During stoppage time, Kashchuk added a goal to his three assists by completing an attack with a precise shot from the centre of the penalty area - 5-0.

After a confident win against Stal, the Donetsk team takes the lead in the U19 championship standings. The next match for Serhiy Popov's team will be an away game against Dynamo on August 13.

Today, we saw plenty of good individual plays by our footballers, but we need to improve our team play. In the next round, we will meet Dynamo. It will be a match with principal opponents and one of the key matches of the season

Serhiy Popov, Shakhtar U19 head coach:

- We are completely satisfied with the result, but we feel that the team need to add more. Today, we saw plenty of good individual plays by our footballers, but we need to improve our team play. In the first half, while Stal's players still had strength, they regrouped in defence and held us off. During the half-time we asked the guys to step up the action in offense with penetrating attacks. In the second half, the opponents slowed down, and our players, thanks to their speed and individual skills, made the score big. In the next round, we will meet Dynamo. It will be a match with principal opponents and one of the key matches of the season. The players understand this and therefore we will prepare for the game very seriously.